Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
M arius
The kitchen door opens, and in bust Ava, Eden, and Matty in his stroller. Looking around, Ava asks, “Where is she? Where is Eleanor?”
She looks like she’s about to cry, so I quickly explain, “She’s resting in her room. Ronan’s sitting with her. Matthias is in his office making some calls to see what can be done. And I’m here.”
That last part seems unnecessarily obvious, but after finding Eleanor collapsed on the kitchen floor, I’m a little frazzled. It’s not every day the only woman you’ve been able to rely on for most of your life scares the hell out of you.
Ava lifts the baby out of the stroller and hands him to Eden. “I need to go see her and make sure she’s comfortable. I’ll be right back. If he gives you any trouble, just give me a holler.”
A second later, she rushes out of the kitchen, leaving the three of us alone. Not that I’ve never been alone with Eden or Matty before. It’s just that at this moment, things feel odd.
“What happened, Marius?” Eden asks as she sits down with Matty at the table.
I sigh, blowing the air out of my lungs. “I came in here for something to drink and found her on the floor. I was just about to start CPR when she opened her eyes and said she didn’t remember anything. One minute she was standing at the counter, and the next she was blacked out on the floor.”
That sounds far more relaxed than what it actually felt like. I wanted to collapse myself when I saw Eleanor on the floor looking like she was dead. She’s the only mother we’ve had around this house since our own died. To lose her would be devastating.
Eden reaches out and touches my hand. “Are you okay? You don’t look right.”
“I’m fine. Thanks, though.”
We sit without saying a word for a few minutes while Matty plays with his feet, which seem to be his newest favorite things lately. I wish I knew what to say, but right now, I’m a little freaked out.
Eden breaks the silence and says, “I’m sure she’ll be fine. She’s a tough lady.”
That makes me smile as I remember all the crazy things my brothers and I have made her deal with in her time here with us. “She’d have to be to handle the five of us.”
I don’t know why, but just thinking about how long she’s been in our lives makes me choke up with emotion.
Eleanor has been in my life since my parents brought me home from the hospital.
She helped my mother when we needed cuts cleaned and bandages put on our many childhood wounds.
Then when my mother died, she took over worrying about us, truly taking care of all five of us when my father wasn’t able to.
If it wasn’t for Eleanor, I don’t know what we would have done in those months when my father was too lost in his grief to even pay attention to us.
“Marius, are you sure you’re okay?” Eden asks, tearing me from my memories.
“I’ll be fine. Little…” A noise in the hallway makes me cut my sentence short, and a second later, Matthias walks into the kitchen. Tickling Matty’s feet, I smile up at him. “Little guy here is growing like a weed.”
Both he and Eden look at me like they think I’m crazy, but after a few seconds, Matthias says, “I spoke to her doctor, and he thinks she may need some time off. When she gets back to work, he believes a nurse would be helpful for the first few weeks. He’s been treating her for high blood pressure, but she hasn’t been willing to take any medicine.
She told him she wanted to treat it with a better diet and no salt.
I don’t think that’s been working. Once she feels up to it, we’re going to take her to the hospital.
He’s ordered tests to find out what’s going on. ”
I nod like I know what he’s talking about, but I have no idea about any of this.
All I want is for Eleanor to feel better and to see her smiling face whenever I’m here at the estate.
We don’t need any more upheavals in this family right now.
I’d like just a few months without a baby being born, someone proposing, or someone getting in trouble.
“My mother has high blood pressure,” Eden says as Matty lets out a high-pitched squeal.
“It can definitely be handled with medication. My mother wanted to do it the natural way too, so she cut out all the salt in her diet. Didn’t work.
She still had to go on the pills. Once she did, though, she was fine. I’m sure Eleanor will be too.”
Matthias smiles like he’s relieved by what she’s said. “Thanks, Eden. Here, let me take the baby from you. Let you relax for a while.”
He and Matty walk out, leaving Eden and me alone. I’m not in the mood to make small talk right now, so I quickly excuse myself.
Talking about the weather or what she and Ava did while they were out shopping is not high on my list of things I want to do. What I really want to do is leave because just thinking about the possibility of Eleanor not being okay is making me feel more emotional than I like at this moment.
By the time I reach my room, my stomach is in knots. I’m not good with this kind of thing. Happy times are what I excel at. Jokes, laughing, and generally being a smart ass are my strengths. This emotional stuff is not.
I lie back on my bed and try to get a handle on my feelings, but they’re all over the place. I need to get my shit together. Ronan’s a mess because Eleanor has been the only mother he’s had since he’s ten years old. Matthias isn’t much better.
Then I realize something we all overlooked.
Nobody told Kellen.
For a few seconds, I consider mentioning it to Matthias or Ronan, but that’s not going to work. Kellen doesn’t need either of them unraveling when they call to let him know. That means it falls to me.
Assuming I can keep it together.
I reluctantly pull out my phone from my pocket and do what has to be done. Kellen answers immediately, catching me off guard.
“Marius, what the hell is up?” he asks in his usual good-time style. “Sick of just lounging around day after day so you call me?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Well, what’s new? Are you still in town?
You should come over to see Salem and me.
We always like having you over. What do you say?
I’ve got a ton of work to do today, but another night this week would be great.
I can tell Salem to invite her sister Ever to join us.
You liked her that one time she stopped over when you were here.
Remember? I think she’s single now since Salem mentioned something about her breaking up with her boyfriend. ”
“Yeah, sure. Um, Kellen, I’m calling for a reason. Something happened.”
I don’t get any more out before he turns deadly serious. “Something happened? To who? Is it Ronan? What happened?”
So much for being the one who’s calm and cool to tell him the news so he doesn’t get upset.
“No, it’s not Ronan. He’s fine. He’s here, in fact, out at the house. No need to worry.”
Kellen lets out a heavy sigh. “Then if it isn’t Ronan, what happened? Clearly, you’re fine. It isn’t one of the kids, is it? Ronan told me little Theo got out of his crib and they couldn’t find him a few weeks ago.”
“No, it isn’t Theo or Matty. That was something else entirely.” I swallow hard and continue. “It’s Eleanor, Kellen. I found her passed out on the kitchen floor a little while ago. She’s awake now, but the doctor wants to run some tests.”
I swear I can hear my younger brother’s sadness come right through the phone, even though he’s not saying a word. Kellen has always been Eleanor’s favorite. His charm never fails to work its magic on her. Losing her would be like losing our mother all over again for him too.
“Thank God she’s okay. Is she talking? What did she say happened?” he asks, his voice full of emotion.
“She didn’t know. One minute she was doing something at the sink, and the next she was blacked out and waking up on the floor. Matthias spoke to her doctor. He thinks it has something to do with her blood pressure, but they won’t know until they run tests.”
His words come out shaky when he says, “I’m going to come out to the house right now. I’ll see you in a few, Marius.”
Before I get the chance to say anything more, the phone goes dead. I don’t know if it was the right thing to do by telling him, but if any of us should know about how Eleanor is doing, it’s him.
This has been one hell of a day. And here I thought I’d get to relax since one of the kids was out of the house with the other one spending time with the nanny.
I must have been tired since I don’t even remember falling asleep. I look outside and see it’s still daytime, so I couldn’t have slept for long.
Stretching my limbs, I feel like someone’s been beating on me repeatedly for hours.
Unsure why, I sit up as I try to figure out if I was restless when I slept.
I’m not the type to have nightmares—never was even as a kid—but as I try to piece together what could be making my body hurt like this, a vague memory of something I must have dreamed comes to me.
I was in Ronan’s apartment. At least I think I was in the dream.
It’s all very hazy, but I think I was looking for the light.
He kept asking me to find the light switch and turn on the lights, but I couldn’t find it.
Weird. I rarely remember my dreams, but I never remember nightmares. Not that being unable to find a light switch is the stuff of horror, but knowing Ronan was in the dream and he wanted me to help him makes me think it might have been a nightmare.
Rolling off my bed, I make sure I’m dressed since I usually don’t sleep with clothes on and then head downstairs. All the emotional upheaval of the day must have worn me out.
Since I hear noises coming from the kitchen, I make my way there to find Ronan, Kellen, and Matthias sitting around the table eating something that looks like apple pie. They all look up when I walk in but don’t say anything.